98-575: The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company originally founded in 1878, beginning car manufacturing in 1904. It primarily operated from its base in Solihull , Warwickshire . Rover also manufactured the Land Rover series from 1948 onwards, and created the Range Rover in 1970, which went on to become its most successful and profitable product. Land Rover eventually became
196-561: A turbocharger built by Rover's gas turbine division as well as an intercooler . This was one of the first times these features had been incorporated on such a small-capacity diesel unit, but they were not adopted. After the Leyland Motor Corporation takeover, the Rover Gas Turbine was used in a number of Leyland trucks, including one shown at the 1968 Commercial Motor Show. Rover gas turbines also powered
294-524: A 'soily' hill. The church was built on a hill of stiff red marl , which turned to sticky mud in wet weather. The land now forming Solihull was once covered in the ancient Forest of Arden . The earliest known settlement in the area was at Berry Mound , Shirley , which was the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort, a fortified village protected by earth banks, dating back to the 1st century BC and which covered approximately 11 acres (4.5 ha). The name Shirley means either 'a bright clearing' or 'a border clearing' in
392-463: A Brown and Barlow carburettor and Druid spring forks. This new model was launched at the 1910 Olympia show and over 500 were sold. In 1913 a 'TT' model was launched with a shorter wheelbase and sports handlebars. The 'works team' of Dudley Noble and Chris Newsome had some success and won the works team award. Rover supplied 499 cc single-cylinder motorcycles to the Russian Army during
490-612: A different engine layout, known within Rover as the B.26, which they thought was superior), led to Rover handing over their part in the jet engine project and the Barnoldswick factory to Rolls-Royce in exchange for the latter's Meteor tank engine factory at Ascot Road, Nottingham, the result of a handshake deal between Rover's Spencer Wilks and Rolls-Royce's Ernest Hives made in a local inn in Clitheroe. The official hand-over date
588-437: A grand Tudor hall with battlements and a long gallery. The hall oversaw five farms, including Hillfields and Shelly farm. William Hawes lived there until his death in 1611. Shelly had been a thriving hamlet during the 13th and 14th centuries, and included Monkspath , but there was little mention of the area by the 17th century. Hillfield Hall remains residential to this day, while the 16th-century Grade II listed Shelly farmhouse
686-636: A house in London from Henry Ferrers of Baddesley Clinton (then in the borough of Solihull) to store the gunpowder. Sir Richard Walsh , owner of Walsh Hall in Meriden (part of the modern borough of Solihull) was the Sheriff of Worcestershire who eventually cornered and killed the gunpowder plotters. John Greswolde, brother of Robert Greswolde , of the wider Greswolde family of Solihull, was an attendant of Henry Garnet (a priest executed for his complicity in
784-678: A large farm called Malvern Farm, in the Malvern part of Longdon Manor, to establish a new family seat, which would be called Malvern Hall. In 1604 the Throckmorton family sold the Manor of Solihull to Edmund Hawes. The Hawes family were already prominent local landowners, having owned the Hillfields area of Solihull since 1311, when Thomas Hawes, a lawyer, purchased the land. William & Ursula Hawes had constructed Hillfield Hall in 1576,
882-412: A new design of internal expanding brakes. Poor sales of their motorcycles caused Rover to end motorcycle production and concentrate solely on the production of motor cars. Between 1903 and 1924 Rover had produced more than 10,000 motorcycles. In 1888, Starley made an electric car , but it was never put into production. Three years after Starley's death in 1901, and H. J. Lawson's subsequent takeover,
980-642: A new small car. This was the Rover Scarab with a rear-mounted V-twin-cylinder air-cooled engine announced in 1931, a van version was shown at Olympia, but it did not go into production. During this time the Rover 10/25 was introduced, with bodies made by the Pressed Steel Company . This was the same body as used on the Hillman Minx . Prior to this time Rover had been a great supporter of
1078-648: A new subsidiary known as Land Rover Limited which encompassed much of the original assets of the Rover Company and the production of the Series Land Rover and Range Rover, which by now had become one of the beleaguered conglomerate's most profitable product lines. Production of the Rover SD1 moved to the former BMC/Morris plant in Cowley in 1982, signalling the end for Rover-badged car production at
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#17327721861791176-466: A part until the Rover Group was broken up by BMW in 2000. Currently, the Rover marque is the dormant property of the Rover Company's de facto successor – Jaguar Land Rover (owned by Tata Motors ), which still operates out of Rover's Solihull plant. The company was founded by John Kemp Starley and William Sutton in 1878. Starley had previously worked with his uncle, James Starley (father of
1274-501: A population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census, and its wider borough had a population of 216,240. The town is located 8 miles (12 km) southeast of Birmingham and 14 miles (21 km) west of Coventry . Solihull itself is mostly urban; however, the larger borough is rural in character, with many outlying villages, and three quarters of the borough designated as green belt . The town and its borough, which has been part of Warwickshire for most of its history, has roots dating back to
1372-472: A rate much greater than piston engines, equivalent to 6 miles per imperial gallon (5.0 mpg ‑US ; 47 L/100 km). Although fuel consumption was later reduced by using a heat exchanger , it was never as low as that of contemporary piston engines. In March 1950, Rover showed the JET1 prototype, the first car powered with a gas turbine engine, to the public. JET1, an open two-seat tourer , had
1470-530: A separate company and brand in its own right. Rover was bought by Leyland Motors in 1967, which had already acquired Standard-Triumph seven years earlier. Initially, Rover maintained a level of autonomy within the Leyland conglomerate, but by 1978, Leyland – by then British Leyland (BL) – had run into severe financial difficulties and had been nationalized by the British Government . Most of
1568-414: A similar period to Hobs Moat and is a large and handsome example of English Gothic church architecture , with a traditional spire 168 feet (51 metres) high, making it visible from a great distance. It is located at the head of High Street and is a Grade I listed building . It was founded in about 1220 by Hugh de Oddingsell. A chantry chapel was also founded there by Sir William de Oddingsell in 1277 and
1666-427: A strong frame with double front down tubes and a good quality finish, over a thousand Rover motorcycles were sold in 1904. The following year, however, Rover stopped motorcycle production to concentrate on their 'safety bicycle' but in 1910 designer John Greenwood was commissioned to develop a new 3.5 hp 500 cc engine with spring-loaded tappets, a Bosch magneto and an innovative inverted tooth drive chain. It had
1764-494: A top speed of 142 mph (229 km/h). Rover also ran several experimental diesel engine projects in relation to the Land Rover . The 2-litre, 52 horsepower (39 kW) diesel unit designed and built by Rover for its 4x4 had entered production in 1956 and was one of Britain's first modern high-speed automotive diesel engines. Experimental projects were undertaken to improve the engine's power delivery, running qualities, and fuel tolerances. British Army requirements led to
1862-586: Is an upmarket bar and restaurant. The historic Solihull School was also founded in 1560 (although not on its present site). On the right along High Street from St Alphege Church porch is one of the town's oldest landmarks, the George, a hotel which dates from the 16th century. Solihull appears to have survived the English Civil War of 1642–1651 relatively unscathed, even though many important close engagements and battles were fought nearby including
1960-759: Is currently on display at the London Science Museum . Four further prototypes were built, the P4-based front-engined T2 and rear-engined T2A saloons, the rear-engined four-wheel-drive T3 coupé , and the front-engined front-wheel drive T4 saloon. Rover and the BRM Formula One team joined forces to produce the Rover-BRM , a gas turbine-powered sports prototype that entered the 1963 24 hours of Le Mans , driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther . It averaged 107.8 mph (173 km/h) and had
2058-683: Is recorded in the Register of Solihull. In 1400, Thomas Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester died a traitor for his part in the Epiphany Rising , and so the Crown took custody of the manor because the heir, Richard le Despenser, was a minor. The manor of Solihull remained property of the king for many years, and was passed through a number of custodians or lessees. In 1495 the Greswolde family of Solihull and nearby Kenilworth, while serving as
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#17327721861792156-636: The Battle of Edgehill to the south and the Battle of Camp Hill to the north. The very first skirmish between the Roundheads and Cavaliers took place just north of Solihull in the fields to the south of the nearby settlement of Curdworth in Warwickshire, called the Battle of Curdworth Bridge. Recent archaeological excavations unearthed evidence that a battle may have been fought at Coleshill Manor near
2254-513: The Centurion and Conqueror , and Solihull became the new centre for vehicles, with production resuming in 1947. This was the year Rover produced the Rover 12 Sports Tourer. 200 cars were built for the export market but all had RHD so many cars stayed in the UK. Solihull would become the home of the Land Rover . Despite the difficulties experienced with the jet engine project, Rover was interested in
2352-465: The First World War . The company began to focus on car production at the end of the war, but Rover still produced motorcycles with 248 cc and 348 cc Rover overhead valve engines and with JAP engines, including a 676 cc V-twin . In 1924 Rover introduced a new lightweight 250 cc motorcycle with unit construction of engine and gearbox. This had lights front and rear as well as
2450-545: The Rover Company in 1911 as a motorcycle tester and competition rider, became one of the British automobile industry's pioneering publicists . He arranged one of the first ever promotional films to be shot, in 1912, of the Rover motorcycle production and testing, ending with a sequence of him accidentally falling off his motorbike in the middle of Kenilworth ford! Many of his Rover publicity exercises, such as racing
2548-597: The Second World War , the British government started a rearmament programme, and as part of this, " shadow factories " were built. These were paid for by the government but staffed and run by private companies. Three were run by Rover: one, at Acocks Green , Birmingham, started operation in 1937, a second, larger one, at Solihull , started in 1940 and the third, at Drakelow Tunnels, Kidderminster, started in 1943. All three were employed making aero engines and airframes. The original main works at Helen Street, Coventry,
2646-611: The Welland ), they evaluated the 4 Lombard/Herriot re-designed Rover W.2B/B.26 engines under test at the time of the takeover, and selected the Rover design for their own jet engine development (it became the Rolls-Royce Derwent engine). After the Second World War, the company abandoned Helen Street and bought the two shadow factories. Acocks Green carried on for a while, making Meteor engines for tanks such as
2744-654: The mid 9th century Alfred the Great fought a battle against the Danes at Berry Mound, Shirley. After the absorption of Mercia into the rest of England, Ulverlei became the property of the Earls of Mercia. The first of these was Leofric , husband of Lady Godiva , heroine of the Warwickshire legend. The manor of Ulverlei later passed to Leofric's grandson, Edwin, Earl of Mercia who held it until his death in 1071. Leofric's great-nephew, Thorkell of Arden, would become progenitor of
2842-471: The 12th century Hampton in Arden was owned by the de Arden family, and also included the then hamlet of Knowle . Knowle would become a royal manor in 1285 when the de Arden family sold it to King Edward I and Queen Eleanor. In 1396, Walter Cook applied for a faculty to build a church in 'Knoll', so the villagers would no longer have to cross the treacherous waters of the river Blythe to get to church, and this
2940-630: The 12th century and are believed to have constructed a castle on the site now known as Hobs Moat (a possible corruption of Odingsells' Moat). The castle was occupied until around the 14th century. The Odingsells were relatives of the powerful Clinton Earls of Huntingdon of Maxstoke Castle (around 8 miles north east of Hobs Moat), whose relatives would also control nearby Coleshill Manor (around 6 miles north east of Hobs Moat), Kenilworth Castle (around 13 miles south east of Hobs Moat) and Baddesley Clinton (around 8 miles south of Hobs Moat). The red sandstone parish church of St. Alphege dates from
3038-557: The 1870s, the Hobday family would construct Monkspath Priory. The property would later serve Solihull as the Regency Club, a gentlemen's club and banqueting complex, before becoming a hotel in the late 20th century. In 1870, metallurgist and inventor James Fern Webster moved to Whitlocks End on the outskirts of Solihull. While here, he discovered the process for making the extraction of aluminium sufficiently cost effective for
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3136-538: The 1890s, famed pen manufacturer Joseph Gillott constructed New Berry Hall outside Catherine de Barnes. The architect of the hall was J. A. Chatwin who designed the Victoria Tower in the Houses of Parliament. Around this time Chatwin also designed School House at Solihull School. Towards the end of this era telephone and postal services came to the town. Dudley Noble Dudley Noble , who started at
3234-505: The 1st century BC, and was further formally established during the medieval era. Today the town is famed as, amongst other things, the birthplace of the Land Rover car marque, home of the training facilities for the British Equestrian teams, and is considered to be one of the most prosperous areas in the UK. Solihull's name is commonly thought to have derived from the position of its arden stone parish church, St Alphege, on
3332-627: The Archer family of Umberslade Hall in Nuthurst . Eventually in 1850 it passed to Robert Short an officer in the East India Company , who left it to his son in law, Rev. John Couchman. The Couchman's remain the Lords of the Manor of Solihull to the present day. By the 1700s, work was underway on Malvern Hall, with Humphrey Greswolde overseeing, it would be completed in the first half of
3430-528: The Blue Train, passed into motoring legend. In January 1930, the Rover name hit the world press when a Rover tried to take on Le Train Bleu on its 750-mile run between Calais and Cannes . The idea of racing the Blue Train was very popular with motor enthusiasts, and each new attempt was received with varying expectations of success. Many had already failed on this mammoth challenge. The act to promote
3528-526: The Forest of Arden, and the abundance of trees required to provide fuel for the fires. The town was also known for textiles. The end of Drury Lane was known as Teinters Green, believed to be an area where cloth was stretched on tenter hooks. In the grounds of St Alphege church is a now Grade II listed ruin dating from the 14th century. It is believed to have been a well house for a holy spring , and later possibly an Oratory . Historians have suggested that
3626-747: The Forest of Arden. During the later Iron Age the River Cole , which feeds the River Blythe, is believed to have been the border between the Corieltauvi and the Cornovii , with Solihull forming the junction of the two powerful Celtic Tribes. Throughout the Roman occupation of Britain it was held that no Roman roads made it through the Forest of Arden because it was so dense. The nearest known major Roman settlements being at Grimstock Hill on
3724-722: The Gunpowder Plot of 1605). It was said that when John was arrested and interrogated after the Gunpowder plot he was racked so badly at the Tower of London that it was rumoured he was dead. The sub-manor of Longdon in Solihull meanwhile had passed to the Greswolde family, in the era of Elizabeth I , however it soon passed through a daughter to Thomas Dabridgecourt . In 1680 the Rev. Henry Greswolde, then rector of Solihull, bought
3822-595: The Kings custodians of the manor of Solihull, built the house on the Solihull High Street called Lime Tree House now erroneously known as the 'Manor House' (as no lord of the manor ever lived there - Silhill Hall was the manor house for Solihull). The manor of Solihull was eventually granted to the Duke of Norfolk , who in turn passed it on in 1530 to the local Throckmorton family of Coughton Court . Solihull
3920-532: The Longdon area of Solihull, is an area known as Malvern, named for Simon de Malverne, believed to be of Malvern in Worcestershire , assassinated in 1317. A moated site opposite the end of Marsh Lane is believed to be the de Malvern former home. By the 14th century, the town had become famed for its blacksmiths, and the Solihull High Street was known as le Smythestret. This was because of its location in
4018-459: The Rover company began producing automobiles with the two-seater Rover Eight to the designs of Edmund Lewis, who came from Lawson's Daimler . Lewis left the company to join Deasy in late 1905. He was eventually replaced by Owen Clegg, who joined from Wolseley in 1910 and set about reforming the product range. Short-lived experiments with sleeve valve engines were abandoned, and the 12hp model
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4116-555: The Shakespeare family, ancestors of William Shakespeare (born a few miles south in Stratford-upon-Avon ), were originally from Solihull's Balsall , with their names appearing in local registers between 1385 and 1457. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden , was from a cadet branch of the de Arden family of Castle Bromwich in the borough of Solihull. Shakespeare's son Hamnet Shakespeare 's baptism on 23 March 1560
4214-533: The Solihull border, Metchley Fort (around 8.5 miles north west), and Alcester (around 15 miles south). By the Anglo Saxon era, the forest of Arden was part of the Kingdom of Mercia . An assart settlement known as the manor of Ulverlei, meaning 'Wulfhere's clearing' was established, with its centre north east of the hillfort at Shirely. Wulfhere was the first Christian King of all Mercia . The settlement
4312-558: The Solihull border. It is reported that Prince Rupert , commander of the Royalist forces, was on his way to meet King Charles in Solihull when he was skirmished by Parliamentary forces in the Battle of Kings Norton . Before its eventual sale to the Greswoldes as part of the Manor of Longdon, the Malvern area of Solihull had been the property of Parliamentarian commander Robert Greville . The Greville family remained important to
4410-539: The Specialist Division, which was the performance-luxury division of BLMC. This was the beginning of the end for the independent Rover Company, as the Solihull-based company's heritage drowned beneath the infamous industrial relations and managerial problems that beset the British motor industry throughout the 1970s. Whilst Jaguar retained much of its independence within the Specialist Division,
4508-583: The Spooner banking family who were the owners of Elmdon hall. A road - Wilberforce Way - is named for him north of Solihull town centre. The manor of Longdon came to famous poet Lord Byron in 1815 by his marriage with Anne, daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke Noel, and on her death in 1860 passed to her grandson the Earl of Lovelace . Two roads in Solihull are named after the family, Lady Byron Lane and Lovelace Avenue. Longdon Hall, with its remaining manorial rights,
4606-576: The area, with Fulke Greville, 5th Baron Brooke being erroneously recorded as the Lord of the Manor of Longdon in 1682. A branch of the Greville family would make donations for schools in Knowle in the early 1700s. In the modern era, Solihull became quieter, with textile working and iron working still prominent in the town. The Manor of Solihull continued to pass through a number of other holders including
4704-579: The assets of the former Rover Company were moved into a new BL subsidiary named Land Rover Ltd whilst the Rover marque itself continued to be used on other BL products which relied largely on Honda engineering. Nevertheless, Rover ultimately became the most prolific brand within BL and gave its name to the entire conglomerate in the form of the Rover Group in 1986, of which MG, Mini and Land Rover remained
4802-552: The board near the end of the calendar year 1931, his work done. Building on successes such as beating the Blue Train for the first time in 1930 in the Blue Train Races , the Wilks Brothers established Rover as a company with several European royal, aristocratic, and governmental warrants , and upper-middle-class and star clients. In the late 1930s, in anticipation of the potential hostilities that would become
4900-417: The borough of Solihull. The Woodmen target shoot at only one distance, 100 yards, and score in the Archers disfavour. Archery had always been an important sport in Solihull. On the doorway of the church of St Alphage are incisions which are arrow sharpening marks from the 1360s when men were required to practice archery on a Sunday to ensure a ready supply of archers. The long marks have been made by Broadheads,
4998-423: The business was taken over by entrepreneur H. J. Lawson . The company developed and produced the Rover Imperial motorcycle in November 1902. This was a 3.5 hp diamond-framed motorcycle with the engine in the centre and 'springer' front forks which was ahead of its time. This first Rover motorcycle had innovative features such as a spray carburettor, bottom-bracket engine and mechanically operated valves. With
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#17327721861795096-403: The century. The hall featured a gatehouse onto the Warwick Road designed by Sir John Soane , architect of the Bank of England. In 1809 the hall would be painted by John Constable , for his patron, Henry Greswolde Lewis. The Greswoldes would later sell the house to Solihull council who converted the estate into Malvern Park . The hall is today part of Solihull School. Also constructed in 1712,
5194-404: The church and the Balsall Preceptory. By 1295, the Manor of Solihull had passed from the Odingsells via heiress to the de Birmingham family , however they in turn quickly passed it into the Le Despencer family. The Despencers found themselves at odds with the Trussell family of nearby Nuthurst (now in the borough of Solihull) during the baronial revolt under Edward II . The warring between
5292-502: The cycle trade), who began by manufacturing sewing machines and switched to bicycles in 1869. The first product of the new company was a tricycle manufactured by Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry , England, in 1883. In the early 1880s bicycles were the relatively dangerous penny-farthings and high-wheel tricycles. J.K. Starley made history in 1885 by producing the Rover safety bicycle —a rear-wheel-drive, chain -driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than
5390-400: The de Limsey family founded the settlement of 'Solihull' as a "planted borough" or planned village to the south of Ulverli. It was called a borough simply because the de Limsey Lord of the Manor offered free burgage tenure where residents were free, rent-paying burgesses, rather than villeins owing service to the Lord of the Manor. By the time of Edward I , Ulverlie was sub-infeudated into
5488-446: The development of a multifuel version of the 2.25-litre variant of the engine in 1962, which could run on petrol, diesel , Jet-A , or kerosene . However, the engine's power output when running on low-grade fuel was too low for the Army's uses. Rover developed a highly advanced (for the time) turbodiesel version of its engine in the mid-1960s to power its experimental '129-inch' heavy duty Land Rover designs. This 2.5-litre engine used
5586-427: The development of the gas turbine engine to power vehicles. In 1945, Rover hired engineers Frank Bell and Spen King away from Rolls-Royce to assist Maurice Wilks in the development of automotive gas turbines. By 1949, the team developed a turbine that ran at 55,000 rpm, produced more than 100 horsepower (75 kW), and could run on petrol, paraffin , or diesel oil. Rover's early turbine engines consumed fuel at
5684-435: The dies and stamping equipment for making the car's body panels at Pressed Steel when ordered to stop work. Rover continued to develop its '100-inch Station Wagon', which became the ground-breaking Range Rover , launched in 1970. This also used the ex-Buick V8 engine as well as the P6's innovative safety-frame body structure design and features such as permanent four-wheel drive and all-round disc brakes . The Range Rover
5782-445: The engine positioned behind the seats, air intake grilles on either side of the car, and exhaust outlets on the top of the tail. During tests, the car reached a top speed of 88 mph (142 km/h). After being shown in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1950, JET1 was further developed, and was subjected to speed trials on the Jabbeke highway in Belgium in June 1952, where it exceeded 150 miles per hour (240 km/h). JET1
5880-412: The first Advanced Passenger Train . The 1950s and '60s were fruitful years for the company. The Land Rover became a runaway success (despite Rover's reputation for making upmarket saloons, the utilitarian Land Rover was actually the company's biggest seller throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s), as well as the P5 and P6 saloons equipped with a 3.5L (215ci) aluminium V8 (the design and tooling of which
5978-407: The former Rover and Triumph organisations worked on a series of shared projects throughout the 1970s - but the only Rover product to be launched was the Rover SD1 (Specialist Division No.1) in 1976, and was the final car that can be thought of as coming from the original Rover Company lineage, being designed by ex-Rover engineers and was initially produced at Solihull. In 1978, British Leyland created
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#17327721861796076-438: The historic Lode Lane site. Video of early Rover motorcycle manufacture: Solihull Solihull ( / ˈ s ɒ l i h ʌ l , ˈ s oʊ l -, ˌ s oʊ l i ˈ h ʌ l / SO(H)L -ee-hul, SOH -lee- HUL ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull , in the West Midlands , England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Forest of Arden area. The town had
6174-403: The land for creation of a Tudor Grange grammar school and Tudor Grange Park . Longdon hall was eventually sold to a nearby golf course. In 1868, George Muntz of nearby Umberslade , a campaigner for suffrage and friend of Thomas Attwood , would become the owner of the manor of Widney Manor . He would also later buy land in Bentley Heath and develop the Solihull area of Dorridge . In
6272-410: The last Anglo Saxon King Edgar Aetheling . Shortly after 1086, Christina entered the nunnery of Romsey Abbey in Hampshire. Her lands were granted to the Norman Ralph de Limesy . The extent of the area historically considered the manor of Ulverlei is demarked by an area called 'Worlds End', a historical naming practice indicating that people did not live beyond there. It was between 1170 and 1180 that
6370-411: The locally prominent Arden family , one of the few Anglo Saxon families to retain their land holdings after the Norman Conquest , and eventually settling in their primary estate in Castle Bromwich , today in the Borough of Solihull. In 1086, it was recorded that the Manor of Ulverlei was now held by Cristina , great-granddaughter of Ethelred the Unready , daughter of Edward the Exile , and sister of
6468-463: The metal to be used in the manufacture of everyday objects. Before this, aluminium was considered a precious metal, with bars of aluminium exhibited alongside the French Crown Jewels in the Paris Exhibition of 1855. In 1878, Webster was producing 100 pounds of pure Aluminium every week at his Solihull Lodge factory. In 1898, the Fowlers Cheese company - the oldest cheese manufacturer in England, founded 1670 - moved to its current site in Earlswood. In
6566-411: The modern police force , Sir Robert Peel . Peel and his son Sir Frederick Peel modernised and made improvements to Hampton in Arden, including the construction of a new manor house, (which is today the Michelin starred Peel's Restaurant ). It was also during the early 1800s that abolitionist William Wilberforce moved to the Elmdon area of Solihull following his marriage to Barbara Spooner , of
6664-408: The name Ketelberne). The assimilation of Longdon into Solihull was so total that few references exist today indicating it was ever a separate place. The Longdon area bordered onto the settlement of Hampton in Arden , appearing in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as 'Hantone'. Despite bordering Solihull, Hampton in Arden would not be incorporated into the borough of Solihull until later. From the middle of
6762-424: The name of the company. The word ровер ( rover ) is also used in many parts of western Ukraine. Rover started building motorcycles then cars using their Viking longship badge from 1904. In 1899 John Starley imported some of the early Peugeot motorcycles from France in for experimental development. His first project was to fit an engine to one of his Rover bicycles. Starley died early in October 1901 aged 46 and
6860-476: The new Rover Light Six in a headline-grabbing campaign was the brainchild of former motorcycle tester and pioneer publicist Dudley Noble, in which a Light Six was to race the Blue Train across France from Calais to St Raphael on the Côte d'Azur . It was a moderately shameless stunt of him, being safe in the knowledge that the average speed of the famous express was no more than about 40 mph once all its stops and detours were taken into account. To beat
6958-439: The newly created Manor of Solihull, and became known as the 'Old Town', contracted to its present name, Olton to distinguish itself from the New Town of Solihull. The de Limsey family held the Manor of Solihull, until Ralph's great-granddaughter married Hugh de Odingsells, whose family were thought to be of Flemish origin. The Odingsells were the Lords of the Manor of Ulverley, and later after its subinfeudation, Solihull, from
7056-587: The previous high-wheel designs. Cycling Magazine said the Rover had "set the pattern to the world"; the phrase was used in their advertising for many years. Starley's Rover is usually described by historians as the first recognisably modern bicycle. In 1889, the company became J.K. Starley & Co. Ltd., and in the late 1890s, the Rover Cycle Company Ltd. The words for "bicycle" in Polish ( rower ) and Belarusian (ро́вар, rovar ) are derived from
7154-401: The round by Bodkins - types of arrowheads used with the long bows of the time. The society is strictly limited to a membership of 80, with this rule only having been bent once, when in 1835 Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, Lord of the Manor of Hampton in Arden, was added. In the early 1800s, Isaac William Lillingston sold the Manor of Hampton in Arden to former Prime Minister , and founder of
7252-516: The site three centuries later in 1656, finding only "a large Moat" and was informed by the locals that the castle there had long since been removed. The Odingsells had built a new purpose-built manor house closer to the new town centre, called Silhill Hall , at some point in the 13th century. It is believed that through much of their ownership of the manor the Despencers would rent out Silhill Hall, or have their stewards reside there. Within
7350-418: The stakes on Rover and its Rover Light Six having raced and beat Le Train Bleu for the first time, to better that record with his 6½ Litre Bentley Speed Six on a bet of 100 Pound Sterling. He drove against the train from Cannes to Calais , then by ferry to Dover and finally London , travelling on public highways, and won; the H. J. Mulliner -bodied formal saloon he drove during the race as well as
7448-767: The team to develop the engine, improving the performance over the original Whittle design. The first test engines to the W.2B design were built in Bankfield Shed, a former cotton mill in Barnoldswick , Lancashire which Rover moved into in June 1941 (along with Waterloo Mill in Clitheroe ). Testing commenced towards the end of October 1941. A need for greater expertise within the project, along with difficult relations between Rover management and Frank Whittle (not least because Rover under AM approval had secretly designed
7546-559: The train, Noble had to drive more or less non-stop from Calais to the French Riviera. The Rover Light Six averaged 38 mph on its 750 miles journey to beat the train's expected time of just over 20 hours, which gave the Rover team a 20-minute lead over the train. It had been beaten for the first time and the Rover team became celebrities through the Daily Express . In March 1930, Bentley Boy Woolf Barnato raised
7644-480: The two families ended when Sir William Trussell of Nuthurst led the invasion of England by Queen Isabella against Edward II, which installed Edward III on the throne. Hugh Despenser was executed and Sir William Trussell was made the King's Secretary of State for England under Edward III. The rivalry between the two families was intense, and at one point the grandson of Sir William Trussell, Sir John Trussell, abducted
7742-488: The upper chapel in St Alphege was built for a chantry. By 1242, the Manor of Solihull was granted a Royal charter to hold a weekly market and an annual fair "on the vigil, the feast and the morrow of St Alphege" (18-20 April). It was around this time that Solihull became a hub for its surrounding parishes. The town of Solihull would later absorb the nearby settlement of Longdon . The first recorded reference to Longdon
7840-480: The very light Weymann bodies that went suddenly out of fashion with the demand for shiny coachwork and more curved body shapes. Weymann bodies remained in the factory catalogue until 1933. Frank Searle and Spencer Wilks set about reorganising the company and moving it upmarket to cater for people who wanted something "superior" to Fords and Austins . In 1930 Spencer Wilks was joined by his brother, Maurice, who had also been at Hillman as chief engineer. Spencer Wilks
7938-534: The widow of Hugh Despenser's grandson (also called Hugh Despenser ), after he was killed in battle, and forced her to marry him in an ultimately futile attempt to take the manor of Solihull. The Despencers would briefly fall back into favour some years later when helping with the campaigns of Edward the Black Prince . It is during this time in the 14th century that Hobs Moat Castle is believed to have fallen into ruin. Antiquary Sir William Dugdale would visit
8036-558: Was 1 April 1943, though there was a considerable overlap, and several key Rover staff such as Adrian Lombard and John Herriot, the latter being at Rover on secondment from the Air Inspection Department (AID) of the AM, moved to Rolls-Royce. In exchange for the jet engine project and its facilities, Rover was given the contract and production equipment to make Meteor tank engines, which continued until 1964. The Meteor engine
8134-626: Was Touchwood Hall at the end of Drury Lane on Teinters Green. The hall would serve as the home of the Holbeche family , former lords of the manor at Widney Manor and a prominent local family. The hall would later be held by the Madeley and Martineau families. The hall was demolished in 1963 but lends its name to Solihull's famous shopping centre. During this time poets William Shenstone and Richard Jago attended Solihull School, where today, two houses are named after them. In 1775, Monkspath Hall
8232-453: Was a clearing in the dense woodland of the Forest of Arden, with the land farmed in common. The older settlement at Shirely was considered part of the new Manor of Ulverlei. This status as a clearing in the countryside is still reflected to this day in the town motto, "Urbs in rure" or "town in the country". Local folklore holds that as part of his campaigns against the Viking invasion in
8330-485: Was also working on the P8 project which aimed to replace the existing P5 large saloon with a modern design similar in concept to a scaled-up P6. When Leyland Motors joined with British Motor Holdings and Rover and Jaguar became corporate partners these projects were cancelled to prevent internal competition with Jaguar products. The P8 in particular was cancelled in a very late stage of preparation- Rover had already ordered
8428-482: Was appointed managing director to supervise recovery. Searle was by training a locomotive engineer with motor industry experience at Daimler and, most recently, had been managing director of Imperial Airways . On his recommendation Spencer Wilks was brought in from Hillman as general manager and appointed to the board in 1929. That year, Searle split Midland Light Car Bodies from Rover in an effort to save money and instructed Robert Boyle and Maurice Wilks to design
8526-510: Was constructed. It captured the nation's media attention two centuries later when it was illegally demolished, sparking a court case which demanded it be put back exactly as it was. In 1785, the Earl of Aylesford founded, and became patron of, the Woodmen of Arden . This is a prestigious society of Toxophilites who meet to shoot longbows at their ground in the Forest of Arden in Meriden, in
8624-464: Was granted by Pope Boniface IX on 4 May 1396. By 1402 the church was consecrated and Knowle broke away from Hampton in Arden, later becoming part of the borough of Solihull. Near Knowle lies the settlement of Temple Balsall , part of the borough of Solihull, that was founded by the Knights Templar , who farmed about 650 acres (2.6 km ) of the estate in the 12th century, and established
8722-557: Was in 1086 as 'Langedone', meaning the 'long hill'. The 'long hill' in question was the hill on what is now Solihull's Marsh Lane and Yew Tree Lane, leading from the River Blythe up onto Elmdon Heath . The Longdon Manor House was at its edge on Copt Heath. In 1161 the Manor of Longdon had been property of Ketelberne de Langdon , who founded Henwood Priory and gave his name to the settlement of Catherine-de-Barnes (a corruption of
8820-650: Was initially designed as a utility vehicle which could offer the off-road capability of the Land Rover, but in a more refined and car-like package. In 1967, Rover became part of the Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), which already owned Triumph . The next year, LMC merged with British Motor Holdings (BMH) to become the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). Rover was grouped together with Triumph and Jaguar in
8918-452: Was introduced in 1912. This car was so successful that all other cars were dropped, and for a while, Rover pursued a "one model" policy. Clegg left in 1912 to join the French subsidiary of Darracq and Company London . During the First World War , they made motorcycles, lorries to Maudslay designs, and, not having a suitable one of their own, ambulances to a Sunbeam design. The business
9016-540: Was later bought by a solicitor, Mr. J. B. Clarke of Birmingham in 1899 and soon afterwards sold to Mr. Alfred Lovekin, a silversmith. Mr Lovekin also leased land near Solihull town centre from the Chattock family of Castle Bromwich , on which he built the Jacobean style Tudor Grange Hall. After Mr Lovekin's death, Tudor Grange Hall was sold to Sir Alfred Bird, 1st Baronet , a chemist and politician, who would later leave
9114-402: Was not very successful during the 1920s and did not pay a dividend from 1923 until the mid-1930s. In December 1928 the chairman of Rover advised shareholders that the accumulation of the substantial losses of the 1923–1928 years together with the costs of that year's reorganisation must be recognised by a reduction of 60 per cent in the value of capital of the company. During 1928 Frank Searle
9212-666: Was owned by the Throckmortons during the Throckmorton Plot of 1583, and the planning of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in which the Throckmorton's were heavily involved. Their co-conspirators included the Catesby family of Lapworth (then part of the borough of Solihull), and the Digby family who were Lords of the Manor of Coleshill (much of which is part of the borough of Solihull today). They rented
9310-618: Was purchased from Buick ) and pioneering research into gas turbine-powered vehicles. As the '60s drew to a close Rover was working on a number of innovative projects. Having purchased the Alvis company in 1965 Rover was working on a V8-powered supercar to sell under the Alvis name. The prototype, called the P6BS, was completed and the finalised styling and engineering proposal, the P9, was drawn up. Rover
9408-781: Was severely damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1941 and never regained full production. In early 1940, Rover was approached by Frank Whittle to do work for Whittle's company, Power Jets . This led to a proposal from Power Jets in which Rover would put forward £50,000 of capital in exchange for shares in Power Jets. Rover contacted the Air Ministry (AM) regarding the proposal, which ultimately led to an arrangement between Rover and former Power Jets contractor British Thomson-Houston (BTH) to develop and produce Whittle's jet engine. The Air Ministry had left Whittle and Power Jets out of these negotiations. Rover chief engineer Maurice Wilks led
9506-482: Was superseded for new tanks in 1962, and as Rover wanted more manufacturing capacity for the Land Rover they transferred the manufacture of Meteor spare parts for the British and other governments back to Rolls-Royce at Shrewsbury. Although Rolls-Royce under Stanley Hooker were soon to be able to start producing the Whittle-designed W.2B/23 engine (known within Rover as the B.23, later named by Rolls-Royce
9604-470: Was to stay with the company until 1962, and his brother until 1963. The company showed profits in the 1929 and 1930 years but with the economic downturn in 1931 Rover reported a loss of £77,529. 1932 produced a loss of £103,000 but a turn around following yet more reorganisation resulted in a profit of £46,000 in 1933. The new assembly operations in Australia and New Zealand were closed. Frank Searle left
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